Charlottesville vs Madison
Metro-area medians — Charlottesville, VA Metro Area vs Madison, WI Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Charlottesville and Madison are evenly matched, each taking 4 of the clearly-decided measures.
Charlottesville and Madison cost about the same to live in, but Charlottesville households earn about 7% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Charlottesville.
Their widest everyday difference: Madison has the tighter job market — 2.2% unemployment versus 2.7%.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Madison leaves you about $1,839/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose Charlottesville for
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Choose Madison for
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
- + Average commute
More comparisons
Metros closest to Charlottesville and Madison on cost, income, size, and education.
Charlottesville vs Madison — frequently asked
- Is Charlottesville cheaper than Madison?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Charlottesville and Madison metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Charlottesville or Madison?
- Charlottesville has the higher median household income — $95,796 versus $89,714 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 7% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Charlottesville or Madison?
- A paycheck stretches further in Charlottesville. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $96,621 there versus $92,216 in Madison.
- Which has cheaper rent, Charlottesville or Madison?
- Madison has cheaper rent — a median of $1,437/mo versus $1,542/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).